On the territory of which state there are no disputed territories. All disputed territories of the world (1 photo). Russia v North Korea

View of Balaklava, TASS

Territorial claims to Russia as to itself big country on the planet, the phenomenon is not new and Russia's reaction in this matter is a real reason for pride. For each "disputed" territory calmly and politely, with sympathy and understanding, he tries to explain that all the lands belonging to Russia and the Russian people will forever remain with Russia. But with this obvious position, the leaders of a number of countries do not want to reckon with, every now and then raising a fuss around the so-called "disputed" Russian territories.

But the most interesting thing is that Russia does not make territorial claims to any country in the world, and as it happened historically, it happened so. Indeed, if we begin to present, we will have to remember the powerful Russian Empire, whose territory back in the 19th century was 21.8 million km² (that is, 1/6 of the land) - it ranked second in the world, after the British Empire. And this is without taking into account the territory of Alaska, which was part of it from 1744 to 1867 and occupied an area of 1,717,854 km², excluding the Aleutian Islands, as well as parts of the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada ... Russia does not remind about all this, but could ...

So which countries have territorial claims against Russia?

The Republic of Korea: noctundo island

Photo: smitsmitty.livejournal.com

Noktundo has belonged to the Korean Joseon Dynasty since the 15th century. In 1587, a battle took place on its territory between the detachments of the Jurchen nomads and the local garrison under the command of Li Songxing, the national hero of Korea.

During the shallowing of the northern branch of the Tumannaya, the river bed changed from time to time, as a result of which sometimes Noktundo was connected to the land of Primorye. Despite this, the territory of the island continued to be under Korean jurisdiction.

In 1860, without the consent of the Korean side, Noktundo withdrew to the Russian Empire in accordance with the Beijing Treaty between Qing China and Russia. Throughout the 20th century, the territory of the island was part of the Khasansky District of the Primorsky Territory.

In 1990, the USSR and the DPRK signed an agreement on the establishment of a state border line along the Tumannaya fairway, due to which the territory former island was recognized as Soviet. This deal was not recognized South Korea, which continues to regard Noctundo's territory as its own.

Japan: Kurile Islands

Perhaps the most relevant today are Japan's claims against Russia in relation to the southern Kuril Islands: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai archipelago. These territories first appeared on the map of Russia in the middle of the 18th century, when the captain of the Russian fleet Martyn Petrovich Shpanberg inflicted Small Kuril ridge... Catherine II secured these accessions by a decree of 1786, calling them "lands acquired by Russian seafarers."

However, already in 1855, they were transferred to Japan in accordance with the Shimoda Treaty as a guarantee of "permanent peace and sincere friendship between Russia and Japan." This agreement was followed by the St. Petersburg Treaty, according to which all the Kuriles passed to Japan in exchange for the Japanese part of Sakhalin. The latter was subsequently lost during the Russo-Japanese War.

The chance to return the lost territories appeared after the Yalta Conference on February 11, 1945, at which an agreement was reached on the USSR's entry into the war against Japan, subject to the transfer of South Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands to it. In accordance with this agreement, General of the Allied Forces Douglas MacArthur in 1946 by a special Memorandum excluded from the territories of the Land of the Rising Sun the Kuril Islands (Tishima Islands), the group of Habomai (Khabomadze) islands and Sikotan Island.

However, the peace treaty between Russia and Japan was never signed. Japan refused to recognize a number of the Kuril Islands, which passed to Russia, as "Kuril". According to the official position of the Land of the Rising Sun, the islands of Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Habomai (Southern Kuriles) were not part of the Kuriles and Japan did not refuse them.

The territorial dispute only worsened during the Cold War. In 1956, the USSR, according to the naval declaration, was ready to cede the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan, leaving behind strategically important Kunashir and Iturup. However, in the event of such a compromise, the United States threatened the Land of the Rising Sun with deprivation of the Ryukyu archipelago with the island of Okinawa, which was then under American rule.

The failed compromise was, in fact, the last precedent in history when Kuril question could get off the ground. The "Treaty on Interaction and Security between the United States and Japan", adopted shortly thereafter, legalized the presence of American troops on Japanese territory, which was naturally regarded by the USSR as a threat to its own interests. The dispute "about the northern territories" has reached a complete dead end.

To date, the four islands of the South Kuriles, as well as the status Northern islands and South Sakhalin, remain the main stumbling block in Russian-Japanese relations, which prevents the summing up of the Second World War and the signing of a peace treaty. According to the position of Russia, all the Kuril Islands, including Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Habomai, as well as the entire Sakhalin, belong to the Russian Federation legally, following the results of World War II.

Russia is still ready to make concessions in the form of the islands of Habomai and Shikotan. Japan, whose position is consistently supported by the United States, considers all the South Kurils to be its ancestral lands illegally occupied by Russia, and the North Kuriles and South Sakhalin to be territories with an undefined status. On her part, a peace treaty is possible only with the return of all four disputed islands... At the same time, there is a third force - the indigenous people of the Ainu, who insist on their sovereign rights to the South Islands.

The indigenous people of the Aina

The situation sometimes reaches the point of absurdity. Thus, in 2012, the Japanese government officially expressed regret over the visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Kunashir Island, calling it "serious obstacles in bilateral relations."

The return of the Kuril Islands is the cornerstone of the foreign policy of the incumbent Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Today, the Japanese media take the position that the territorial issue has finally gotten off the ground, in connection with the statement of Vladimir Putin that the absence of a peace treaty with Japan is abnormal.

Latvia: claims on Pytalovo

The legacy of the revolution and the subsequent partition of the Russian Empire was the long-term territorial dispute between Russia and Latvia over the Pytalovsky district of the Pskov region. This territory was transferred to the latter under the terms of the Riga Peace Treaty between Soviet Russia and Latvia in 1920. According to the official Latvian version, the ethnographic principle was applied in the determination of the border in 1920. According to other sources, Latvia insisted on transferring this area to it, since it was an important railway junction. In any case, Pytalovo became part of the seceded Latvia, and was soon renamed Jaunlatgale.

But the lost territories were returned twenty years later, in 1940, after the incorporation of Latvia into the USSR as the Latvian SSR. And in 1944, Pytalovo and the surrounding area became part of the RSFSR, after liberation from the Nazi occupation. After the collapse of the USSR, Latvia refused to recognize these territorial changes, calling its inclusion in the Union of Socialist Republics an occupation, and Pytalovo an illegally annexed territory, insisting on the return of the 1920 borders. The district with the telling name "Pytalovo" has long become a source of irritation in relations between Moscow and Riga.

He thwarted the signing of the Russian-Latvian border treaty, when Latvia unexpectedly included in the draft a unilateral, “explanatory” declaration with claims to these territories. According to Latvian politicians, the fact that Pytalovo was owned by Russia violated the Latvian constitution, according to which the border (naturally corresponding to the 1920 border) cannot be changed without the consent of citizens in a referendum. In response to this, Vladimir Putin uttered his famous phrase: "From a dead donkey, their ears, not the Pytalovsky district."

Latvia could insist on its undoubted ownership of the "five kilometers" of the Pskov region for a long time, if not for its desire to join the European Union, one of the main requirements of which is clearly defined borders. In 2007, President Vike-Freiberga renounced her territorial claims, expressing the hope that this: "will help unfreeze the really frozen relations with the eastern neighbor."

Finland: the Karelian question

While Latvia has renounced its territorial claims, in Finland there is a growing number of public organizations advocating the return of Karelia and other territories lost during the Second World War. Vesti Karelia has been informed about the forthcoming public discussion on the hypothetical ways of returning Karelia, which may take place in the very near future. According to them, among the initiators are the revanchist organization ProKarelia, the Karelia club, as well as the Karjalan kuvalehti magazine.

Throughout its history, Karelia has been a Swedish duchy, and Korelsky district, and Olonets governorship. This land has become controversial more than once.

The Karelian question arose as a result of the conditions of the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920, at the end of the civil war in Finland and the Soviet-Finnish war. Under its terms, Western Karelia became the property of Finland. The territories were returned during the Second World War, and the Karelian-Finnish population was evacuated to Finland. In 1956, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was transformed into an autonomy within the RSFSR.

Despite the fact that Finland does not officially raise the issue of revising borders, in the country, according to the latest polls, 38% of respondents support the return of Western Karelia. In 2011, the leader of the ProKarelia movement already known to us, Veikko Saksi, came up with a similar initiative, announcing that the return of Karelia to Finland meets all the norms of the European Union. However, the President of Finland, Sauli Niiniste, during his working visit to Moscow in 2013, denied this information, saying that he had never heard such a proposal among Finnish lawmakers.

China: dispute over 17 hectares

Today, China has territorial claims to almost all of its neighbors. Russia is no exception. More recently, in 2005, the Russian-Chinese border underwent changes in the form of 340 square kilometers: a plot of land in the area of Bolshoi Island and two plots in the area of the Tarabarov and Bolshoi Ussuriisky islands, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, came under the jurisdiction of the PRC. However, this, in the territorial claims of China to Russia, was not put to an end.

In 2012, when checking the state border between the countries, China announced the need to move it deep into Russia, putting forward a claim to the "primordially Chinese" 17 hectares of Altai highlands... It should be noted that the dispute arose because of a small section of an inaccessible territory located at an altitude of 2500-3000 meters, and not equipped, on this moment, checkpoints. As a result, the Chinese side was unable to provide any documents in support of their claims to the Altai 17 hectares, which turned, overnight, into disputed territories.

Ukraine Crimea

View of Balaklava, TASS

The Crimean peninsula, where the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol are located, became part of Russia on March 18, 2014 following the results of a referendum held on its territory, in which the overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted for reunification with Russia.

When seceding from Ukraine, Crimea used the same grounds as it did in 1991 when seceding from the USSR, namely:

The right of peoples to self-determination
Security threat from a coup d'état
Continuation of centuries-old historical traditions

Ukraine, which had previously included Crimea, at the time of the referendum had already lost its pre-existing statehood, since the coup, during which the incumbent president was deposed by parliament with obvious violations of constitutional procedures, automatically put all power in the country outside the constitution and legally destroyed the state as such.

The results of the referendum are not openly recognized by Ukraine and the West, the rest of the world for the most part simply bypasses the issue. In any case, the topic will remain open for some time, among other things, and because in 1954 Crimea was transferred to Ukraine with other borders - since then Northern part Arabat spit with the village of Strelkovoye are still in Kherson region... On the whole, the question is closely related to the future fate of Novorossiya.

If you look at the map, you can clearly see the borders separating one state from another. Everything looks clear and unambiguous. Unfortunately, the reality is not so rosy. Borders change every day: some states disappear, others appear, and still others seek to expand their territory at the expense of their neighbors. We offer an overview of the disputed territories, which are claimed by several powers, not recognizing the rights of each other.

Greece and Turkey could never coexist peacefully, and the Cyprus problem gives them the opportunity to fully express their dissatisfaction with each other. After several times the territory of the island passed from hand to hand, now it is divided into two parts. 37% is under Turkish control, 63% of the southern part is the Republic of Cyprus, between them there is a buffer zone under NATO control.

These cities on the northern coast of Morocco are Spain's only remaining territories in Africa. Morocco regularly appealed to the Spanish government to grant them independence, but the local population vehemently rejected such an idea. At the moment, they are officially part of the EU.

Relations between the Singaporean and Malay governments have never been easy, and most recently Malaysia accused Singapore of illegally managing its lands. Point 20, a small piece of land reclaimed from the sea in Singapore, Malaysia claims to be in its territorial waters.

People are ready to fight in modern world for anything, and the island of New Moor is a confirmation of this, not even an island, but a spit with an area of 10 square meters. It appeared in 1970 in the Bay of Bengal after a cyclone and disappeared in 2010 due to rising sea levels. India and Bangladesh fought for him for 40 years.

Another surprising territorial dispute regarding uninhabited island v North Atlantic... It is claimed by Great Britain, Iceland and Ireland.

Although no one shed blood for this territory, it is still divided long ago, empty and hypothetically. And therefore, ownership issues constantly arise.

The controversy began when an Argentinean whaling company established a base in the Falkland Islands around the time Britain annexed them. During the Falklands War, they briefly fell under the rule of Argentina, but soon returned to British jurisdiction.

Although there is no sharp conflict between Great Britain and Spain over territories, they are still opponents in this matter.

The region, which is mainly a desert, is one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world. It once belonged to Spain, but now it is claimed by Morocco and the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic.

It has long been known that Sudan is not calm at all. For many years the country has been torn apart by civil war and bloodshed, and South Sudan has achieved its independence. Abyei is a region located at the very center of the conflict between the two countries. And although it is claimed by South Sudan, it is ruled by its northern neighbor.

Unusual disputed territory. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that they are not fighting for it, but two countries are trying to get rid of it - Egypt and Sudan.

Despite the independence gained in 1981, Belize has been fighting off Guatemala's territorial claims for 30 years. On some maps of the restless neighbor, Belize is listed as the 23rd arrondissement.

If you think that if three million people proclaim independence and form a new state, then all the other 200 countries will happily nod their heads and recognize it, then you are wrong. In 1991, Somaliland declared independence from Somalia, but no one blinked an eye. Perhaps you should have chosen a different name for the state?

More recently, there was a war between Argentina and Britain, which ended with the recognition of the status of British territory for the islands. And in 2007, the President of Argentina again proposed to resume negotiations.

Though most of The world community perceives Tibet as an autonomous region within China, the Tibetan government in exile in India categorically disagrees with this.

After decades of violent conflict, Kosovo, part of Serbia, declared independence in 2008. Since then, it has been recognized by 88 countries, including the United States, Britain and France. Russia and China, not to mention Seribia, were categorically opposed.

Although the Kuril Islands officially became part of the USSR after the end of World War II, Japan still calls them its northern territories.

The narrow strip between Ukraine and Moldova turned into a self-proclaimed republic, which was recognized only by two countries - South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which themselves are in the same status. For the rest of the world, it is an autonomous territorial unit within Moldova.

After World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel. As a result, the DPRK was formed in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south. Both states claim their rights to the entire peninsula, once this already led to the Korean War, after which a demilitarized zone appeared between them.

There are two countries claiming the name "China". These are the PRC and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Both are completely unprepared to admit the existence of each other and declare claims to the same territory.

21. Spratly Islands

The two self-proclaimed republics have been seeking independence from Georgia for about a century. Fierce confrontation continued in the region, in which the Russian Federation helped them. As a result, only a few countries recognized their independence - Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and several Pacific islands.

The territory of Kashmir, located between India and Pakistan, is effectively divided between three forces - India in the south, Pakistan in the northwest and China in the northeast. Neither side agrees to recognize the rights of others to these territories.

One of the most contested regions on the world map for many centuries. The territory passed into the hands of various states many times. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1947, the situation has not improved, there are constant shots here, and occasionally there are serious military clashes.

The last territorial conflict in recent history Ukraine and Russia.

No one undertakes to predict how such conflicts could end, but scientists have brought them into

SEPTEMBER 28,

On September 28, 1939, the Treaty of Friendship and the Border Between the USSR and Germany was signed. It was signed by the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov. We decided to talk about five disputed territories of Russia with other states.

The treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was concluded on September 28, 1939. It was signed after the invasion of Poland by the armies of Germany and the USSR by the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov. According to this agreement, the territory of Poland was divided between Germany and the USSR. The text of the treaty and a map with the border line between the USSR and Germany were published in the Soviet press. Under this agreement, Lithuania passed into the sphere of influence of the USSR. This ensured the Soviet Union the non-interference of Germany in relations with Lithuania, which as a result led to the establishment of the Lithuanian SSR on June 15, 1940.

DISPUTED ISLANDS

The Kuril Islands include 30 large and many small islands. They are included in Sakhalin Region Russia and are of great military-strategic and economic importance. but southern islands the archipelago - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group - are disputed by Japan, which includes them in the Hokkaido prefecture.

The principled position of Moscow is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, of which Russia became the legal successor, and are an integral part of the territory Russian Federation on legal grounds following the results of the Second World War, enshrined in the UN Charter, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has the appropriate international legal confirmation, is beyond doubt.

In Japan, they say that the northern territories are centuries-old territories of this country, which continue to be under the illegal occupation of Russia. According to the Japanese position, in case of confirmation that the northern territories belong to Japan, it is ready to flexibly approach the time and procedure for their return. In addition, since Japanese citizens living in the northern territories were forcibly evicted by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to come to an agreement with the Russian government so that Russian citizens living there do not suffer the same tragedy. In other words, after the return of the islands to Japan, she intends to respect the rights, interests and desires of the Russians now living on the islands.

HAVE TAKEN A HALF ISLAND

The problem of the disputed islands of Tarabarov and Bolshoi Ussuriisky arose in 1964, when a new draft agreement on the border between Russia and China was developed. And the story was like this. In 1689, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed, when Russia recognized China's rights to lands on the right bank of the Amur and in Primorye. In the middle of the 19th century, taking advantage of China's weakness, Russia annexed 165.9 thousand square kilometers of Primorye, which were under joint control. China was left without access to the Sea of Japan. During World War II, between Stalin and the commander-in-chief of the PLA, Mao Zedong, who controlled northern regions China, an agreement was concluded to draw a border line along the Chinese banks of the Amur and Ussuri rivers. Thus, China was actually deprived of the right to use the fairway of these rivers, but received support from the USSR.

In 2004, an agreement was signed between Russia and China on the Russian-Chinese state border on its eastern part. The document defines the passage of the border in two sections: in the area of the Bolshoi Island in the upper reaches of the Argun River (Chita Region) and in the area of the Tarabarov and Bolshoi Ussuriisky Islands at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers near Khabarovsk. Tarabarov was completely given to China, and Ussuriysky was only partially. The border line, according to the document, runs both in the middle of the rivers and on land. The territory of both sites (about 375 sq. Km) is divided approximately in half.

WANTED TO PULL A PIECE

Estonia claims the Pechora district of the Pskov region and the right bank of the Narva river with Ivangorod. On May 18, 2005, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Estonia Sergey Lavrov and Urmas Paet signed treaties on the state border and delimitation of sea spaces in Narva and Gulfs of Finland, securing the passage of the state border between the two states along the former administrative border between the RSFSR and the Estonian SSR "with minor adjustments on the basis of adequate territorial compensation." One of the main subjects of negotiations on the Russian-Estonian border is the "Saatse boot". It was planned to transfer it to Estonia, exchanging it for other territories. The treaty was not ratified by Russia due to amendments made by the Estonian side.

FISH WAR

For almost half a century, Russia has been waging an undeclared fish war with Norway. Most of the fighting takes place on the territory of the famous "twilight zone" in the Barents Sea. It is a contested body of water about half the size of Germany or Italy, two-thirds of the UK.

The essence of the dispute boils down to the fact that Russia drew a border along the coast of the island of Svalbard, Norway believed that the border should be equidistant from Svalbard on one side and Franz Josef Land and the island New earth with another. Since the states were on friendly terms, the dispute about the border rarely resulted in any actions, and occasionally the detention of Russian fishing vessels took place. However, in the future, the dispute escalated, since hydrocarbon reserves were discovered in the Barents Sea, including in the disputed territories. In April 2010, the parties agreed that a new delimitation line would divide the disputed territory into two equal parts; the 40-year-old dispute was finally settled on September 15, 2010 after the signing of an agreement "On the delimitation of maritime spaces and cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean" transfer of 90 thousand sq. km. in favor of Norway.

CRIMEA - TERRITORY OF DISPUTES

For many years, the controversy around, perhaps, the most beautiful and favorite resting place of the Soviet people, does not subside. Crimea is not only an “all-Union health resort”, but also a strategic territory.

In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated. The people living in Russia, after the loss of so many territories, remembered the Crimea, which could be returned, because many did not approve of its transfer to Ukraine in 1954. At the same time, 80 percent of Crimean residents stated that they consider themselves citizens of Russia, and Crimea is part of its territory. But Ukraine had one very significant lever of pressure on Russia - the Black Sea Fleet. In January 1992, the then President of Ukraine L. Kravchuk announced the taking of the Black Sea Fleet under his tutelage. This was a ruin for Russia. But the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine is a very huge loss for Russia.

What territories can be taken from Russia in the coming years.

Last Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he would like to resolve the issue of the Kuril Islands with Russia and sign a peace treaty. According to him, "the solution of the issue of the northern territories is a long-standing desire of the Japanese people." How Japan intends to resolve the issue, Abe did not elaborate. The countries have not been able to sign a peace treaty since the end of World War II.

We decided to recall the history of the Kuril Islands, and at the same time of other disputed territories, which in the future may become the cause of the conflict between Russia and its neighbors.

Kurile Islands

The dispute between Russia and Japan over the Kuril Islands can be traced back to the 18th century. At that time, the islands were inhabited by the Ainu people and a permanent Russian or Japanese population did not yet exist on them. Expeditions to the Kuril Islands were carried out by both the Russians and the Japanese, but the parties did not exercise any real control over the territories until the 19th century.

The first full-fledged delimitation agreement was signed by Russia and Japan in 1855 - it recognized the right of the Japanese to the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands, as well as to the Habomai group of islands. The rest of the islands of the Kuril ridge remained with Russia. It is on the basis of this treaty that Japan is now putting forward claims to the territory of the southern Kuriles.

Subsequently, the islands passed from hand to hand more than once - in 1875, Russia in exchange for South Sakhalin gave Japan the entire Kuril ridge, and in 1905, after defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, gave up South Sakhalin. In 1945, the USSR entered the war with Japan at the request of the United States on the terms of the subsequent return of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.

After victory in the war, Soviet troops occupied the agreed territories, but Japan did not recognize the fact of transferring Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands to the USSR. The reason was that, according to Japanese cartography, they do not belong to the Kuril Islands, being the historical Japanese province of Chishima.

At the same time, the Soviet Union agreed to transfer the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan, in exchange for the recognition of the remaining territories for the USSR, but these conditions did not suit Japan and a peace treaty between the countries was never signed.

In the USSR, the very fact of dispute over territories was not recognized until 1991, so no political negotiations on this topic were conducted. An active political phase in the Kuril Islands issue has resumed between Japan and the Russian Federation.

In 2007, Russia was offered to return to the terms of the 1955 truce with the transfer of Habomai and Shikotan, but Japan refused and chose to continue to consider all the southern Kurils as its "northern territories".

In 2010 and 2012, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, along with other high-ranking officials, visited the disputed territories, prompting disapproval from Japan. A new attempt by the Japanese authorities for rapprochement on the issue of resolving the territorial dispute has not yet received a response from the Russian side.

Amur Islands and Altai

The eastern part of the border between Russia and the PRC runs along the Amur River and its tributary Ussuri. In the channels of these rivers, there are a huge number of islands, the territorial status of which was repeatedly disputed by two parties throughout the twentieth century.

So, in 1969, an armed conflict broke out between the troops of the USSR and the PRC over Damansky Island, as a result of which control over it actually passed from the Soviet side to the Chinese. In 1991, the island was finally assigned to the PRC by signing an agreement.

In 2005, Russia and China entered into another agreement on the demarcation of the border between the two states, according to which 337 square kilometers of island territories were assigned to the PRC, which were in fact under Russian control. A part of the Bolshoi Ussuriisky Island, the Tarabarov Island and also other, smaller islands located near Khabarovsk, in the place where the Ussuri flows into the Amur, went to China.

According to the statements of the Russian authorities, the transfer of the disputed territories to China was made with the aim of settling relations between the two countries and avoiding a possible military conflict in the future. At the same time, already in 2012, China demanded that a section of the border in the Altai Mountains be moved into the interior of the Russian Federation.

The PRC hoped to get 17 hectares of land, through which, possibly, a gas pipeline to the land of the rising sun will pass in the future. Thus, by handing over the disputed territories to China in 2005, the Russian authorities by no means got rid of Chinese claims to our land, but, on the contrary, created a dangerous precedent.

At the same time, in China itself, the mood for the return of the former imperial borders is quite strong. The local press does not hesitate to publish maps on which the lands of Siberia and Far East designated by the historical Chinese territory.

Pytalovo

In 1920, a peace treaty was signed between Soviet Russia and Latvia, according to which the parties recognized the sovereignty of the two states. At the same time, the state border was drawn. As a result, part of the Ostrovsky district of the former Russian Empire became part of Latvia.

In 1940, Stalin brought Soviet troops into Latvia, and in 1944 the territory of the former Ostrovsky district returned to the RSFSR, and it became the Pytalovsky district of the Pskov region.

After the collapse of the USSR, Latvia recognized its presence in the USSR as an occupation and, on this basis, put forward territorial claims to the Pytalovsky region. At the same time, the Russian authorities, referring to this issue, categorically refused to transfer the disputed territories to the Baltic country.

In 2007, the Latvians made concessions and the border was finally fixed as it remained after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Latvia decided that the claims were not worth the deterioration of relations with Russia, in addition, the country needed to settle territorial disputes in order to join NATO.

Saatses boot

Estonia also had territorial claims to Russia. They, however, were not related to the historical right of Estonia to certain Russian territories, but with a banal inconvenience.

The fact is that one of the Estonian highways, built in the USSR, partially passes through the territory of the Pechora district of the Pskov region, which juts out into the lands of Estonia and resembles the shape of boots. To travel along this road, you have to cross the state border twice.

Russia has introduced a special regime on this territory, according to which Estonian transport has the right to pass the Russian section of the road without border inspection, but it is forbidden to stop and walk there.

The Russian authorities planned to resolve these inconveniences in 2005 by transferring the Saatses boot to Estonia in exchange for almost 100 hectares of forest lands. But the signing of the already prepared agreement fell through due to the amendments made by the Estonian side to the text, which did not suit the Russian Federation.

As a result, in 2014, the countries signed another demarcation agreement, recognizing the existing borders that remained after the collapse of the USSR. Estonia, like Latvia, at a certain stage was forced to curtail the issue of border relocation due to the rules for joining NATO.

Karelia

Throughout its history, Karelia has become a disputed territory more than once. It belonged to the Novgorod Republic, Sweden and the Russian Empire. In 1920, after the civil war and the first Soviet-Finnish war, the western part of Karelia was transferred to Finland.

The territory was returned after World War II, although some historical area Karelia remained a part of Finland - there and now there are administrative units of North and South Karelia. Since the end of World War II, the Russian-Finnish border has not changed and has never been challenged by the official Finnish government.

However, recently, in Finland, moods have been growing for the return of Karelian lands - according to opinion polls, at least one third of the population is in favor of uniting Karelia under the Finnish flag. Recently, several political organizations have emerged advocating the return of the disputed territory.

Spitsbergen

The Spitsbergen Islands were first visited in the 12th century by the Pomors who inhabited Russia. They were finally discovered by the famous Dutch navigator Willem Barents in 1596. Since then, whaling and walrus hunting have been regularly conducted on the island, until by the 19th the animals were completely exterminated.

On Russian maps at that time, this territory was designated as part of the Russian Empire, although Denmark and Great Britain also had claims to it. At the same time, in fact, the islands remained without any management until the beginning of the twentieth century.

In 1920, Norway, taking advantage of the collapse of the Russian Empire, declared its rights to Spitsbergen. After that, an international treaty was signed on the special legal status of Svalbard, according to which the archipelago was recognized as the territory of the Norwegian crown.

At the same time, all countries that signed the treaty had the right to conduct commercial and research activities on the islands. Svalbard was also recognized as a demilitarized zone.

Between the world wars, coal mining was actively carried out on the archipelago, in addition, Svalbard became one of the centers of polar aviation. During the war, many mines were destroyed, but after that mining resumed - mainly thanks to the efforts of Norway and the USSR.

By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, Svalbard's coal reserves were depleted and the Norwegian settlements on the island reoriented their economies towards Arctic tourism. The Norwegian authorities took the position of protecting the ecological situation in the archipelago, introducing new laws in the 2000s that severely restricted the activities of organizations on the islands.

The Russian part of Spitsbergen was unable to adapt to the new realities and is currently living on state subsidies. However, Russian population Svalbard is no more than 500 people, most of whom live in the village of Barentsburg. At the same time, about two thousand Norwegians live on the islands.

Russia and Norway did not conduct official disputes over the ownership of Spitsbergen, although the countries recently had territorial claims to each other. They concerned primarily the drawing of the border in the waters. Barents Sea... The Russian side drew the border along the coast of the island of Svalbard, while the Norwegians insisted that the border should be at an equal distance from Svalbard and Franz Josef Land.

The dispute moved into an active phase when hydrocarbon reserves were discovered in this sea area. In addition, there is a lively fishing industry, and Russian and Norwegian border guards have often arrested fishing vessels here. In 2010, the dispute was resolved by signing a demarcation agreement, which was drawn up on a compromise basis.

Alaska

Alaska was discovered by Russian sailors in the 18th century and until 1867 was operated by a so-called Russian-American company. However, after the unsuccessful Crimean War, it became clear that Russia was simply not able to protect such a remote and undeveloped territory as Alaska.

In addition, after Alexander II carried out large-scale reforms in the treasury, there was not enough money, and the government decided to sell the peninsula. The amount of the deal with the US authorities amounted to $ 7.2 million, that is, $ 4.74 per square kilometer.

Almost immediately after the sale, gold was discovered in Alaska, but the mining industry began to develop actively only towards the end of the 19th century, when the gold rush happened in America. In 1959, Alaska became a state, and now there is extensive mining, including oil.

Official Russia since the sale of the peninsula has never expressed its rights to it, although from the lips of politicians every now and then pops up a reminder of the Russian past of Alaska. Of course, in the wake of these sentiments is Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has long been proposing to demand Alaska back from the United States. After the events in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation, talks about the return of Alaska resumed with renewed vigor, although for the most part they are rather humorous.

DISPUTED ISLANDS

The Kuril Islands include 30 large and many small islands. They are part of the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia and are of great military-strategic and economic importance. However, the southern islands of the archipelago - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group - are disputed by Japan, which includes them in the Hokkaido prefecture.

The principled position of Moscow is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, of which Russia became the legal successor, and are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation on legal grounds following the results of World War II, enshrined in the UN Charter, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has a corresponding international legal confirmation, no doubt.

HAVE TAKEN A HALF ISLAND

The problem of the disputed islands of Tarabarov and Bolshoi Ussuriisky arose in 1964, when a new draft agreement on the border between Russia and China was developed. And the story was like this. In 1689, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed, when Russia recognized China's rights to lands on the right bank of the Amur and in Primorye. In the middle of the 19th century, taking advantage of China's weakness, Russia annexed 165.9 thousand square kilometers of Primorye, which were under joint control. China was left without access to the Sea of Japan. During World War II, an agreement was concluded between Stalin and the PLA commander-in-chief Mao Zedong, who controlled the northern regions of China, to draw a border line along the Chinese banks of the Amur and Ussuri rivers. Thus, China was actually deprived of the right to use the fairway of these rivers, but received support from the USSR.

WANTED TO PULL A PIECE

Estonia claims the Pechora district of the Pskov region and the right bank of the Narva river with Ivangorod. On May 18, 2005, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Estonia Sergei Lavrov and Urmas Paet signed treaties on the state border and delimitation of sea spaces in the Narva and the Gulf of Finland, securing the passage of the state border between the two states along the former administrative border between the RSFSR and the Estonian SSR "with minor adjustments on the terms adequate territorial compensation ”. One of the main subjects of negotiations on the Russian-Estonian border is the "Saatse boot". It was planned to transfer it to Estonia, exchanging it for other territories. The treaty was not ratified by Russia due to amendments made by the Estonian side.

FISH WAR

The essence of the dispute boils down to the fact that Russia drew a border along the coast of the island of Svalbard, Norway believed that the border should be equidistant from Svalbard on the one hand and Franz Josef Land and the island of Novaya Zemlya on the other. Since the states were on friendly terms, the dispute about the border rarely resulted in any actions, and occasionally the detention of Russian fishing vessels took place. However, in the future, the dispute escalated, since hydrocarbon reserves were discovered in the Barents Sea, including in the disputed territories. In April 2010, the parties agreed that a new delimitation line would divide the disputed territory into two equal parts; the 40-year-old dispute was finally settled on September 15, 2010 after the signing of an agreement "On the delimitation of maritime spaces and cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean" transfer of 90 thousand sq. km. in favor of Norway.